Enjoying life

My heart has not been in this blog lately. I've been spending my time playing music and doing art instead of talking or sharing either. I actually have been doing lots and enjoying life so I'm not going to stress about a mismanaged blog.

I finished off my piano teaching "year" with the student recital and all in all it went well. I had 2 students who could have done better, but they did ok. One poor girl had a terrible memory blank but was able to get back on track, finish her first song and then perform her second flawlessly. I was so very proud of her. That is the hardest part of recital time for me. I really want all my students to have a good experience and it usually turns "bad" for 1 student a year. I can tell them that its happened to me before and share my horror experiences, highlight the good things they did, but its hard for me to get them not to focus on the mistakes they made. It is part of being a musician and they need to learn these things on their own but I always fear that it will put them off music and that would break my heart.

I'm gearing up to participate in 2 "Breast Cancer 3 Day Walks" this summer. We're going to Cleveland end of July/August and then doing Michigan 2 weeks later. My "Breast Cancer Pirate" was created in honor of our Cleveland Route Safety team. We are doing a pirate theme this year and having lots of fun designing costumes and thinking up piratish ideas that will make the walkers smile and brighten their long journey. Everyone needs to "protect and treasure their chests!" So please remember to do your monthly exams and your suggested mammogram screenings. Early detection saves lives.

My second piece of art was created as a possible baby shower gift for a second cousin who I don't really see now that we're all adults. I've never even met his wife! (Big families are like that which is so weird after being close through your childhood). Anyways, their registry was mostly filled and I truly couldn't afford the things that were left unpurchased. I think-if the pictures I used are fairly recent-the man and woman resemble the couple. I am nervous to give this to them, but I'm going to do it. I sure hope that if they hate it they at least dont tell me!

I dont have much more to share today. I'm working at a Breast Cancer Poker Run today. I've never been to one of these and am looking forward to seeing some old friends there. It looks to be a gorgeous weekend here and I hope all you have an equally nice one. Thanks for stopping by.

Busy busy

Edited to add that Janet won my birthday drawing and received the polymer lion. Congratulations to my lovely blog friend and thank all of you for stopping by and the well wishes.

Life has been really busy lately. Its not bad, just a bit different for me. Things for the loan are done and approved and we'll sign the papers on Friday so that means hopefully the piano will go out next week to begin the restoration. I've also been playing the doctor shuffle and going for lots of tests. I'm confident that nothing super bad is going on, but they need to check something and make sure its still ok. Hopefully after todays test and the follow up visit life can return to normal.

The recital I hold for my students yearly performance is Friday so I've been busy perfecting everyones songs and easing their nerves. I finished teaching last night and I am free from lessons until my piano returns hopefully close to Labor day. Mentally it will be wonderful to be away from teaching, but financially I'll have to be more careful than I have been lately. Again, this isn't a bad thing, just different.

In preperation for the piano to be moved, I've been cleaning and organizing my office. This is a monster task as I'm far from an organized person. I bought some inexpensive storage units and assembled them to line one wall of the office, and sorted through my stacks of stuff. Its looking really good in there. I actually wanted to spend my evening in there and laid on the futon and read a book for a bit last night. Its amazing that I didn't think the mess of that room bothered me, but now that its all neat and arranged, I absolutely love it. I sure hope I can keep on top of things and keep it nice.

So my exciting news is that I'll be starting harp lessons the last week of May. I've commited to 3 months of lessons and rental. I figure by that time I'll know for sure if I want to continue to persue learning another instrument. I've wanted to learn the harp for about 10 years, but just recently found the opportunity to rent an instrument. It seems like this was meant to be considering that my piano wont be here for the summer and I was worried about how I would deal with that. I played the organ for a wedding last Friday and they had an aunt perform a harp solo in the ceremony. It was really beautiful and made me even more eager to begin my lessons.

My softball league started up last week. We played a fun game against the team we lost the championship to last year. We won and it was a very sweet victory. I was catching and every throw they made to me when there was a runner trying to score I was able to tag them out. It was a good fielding day for me. I didnt hit so well, but it was the first game so hopefully I'll get back in the groove. I at least got on base and scored twice. It was fun and that is the only reason I play. FUN!

The 2 pendants pictured today are made of polymer clay. I have tons of molds that I have made from many buttons and charms. We made these pendant together in class so I also had access to some other molds. Anyways, we pushed the clay in the molds and then sat them on a sheet of clay in a pleasing arrangement and then cut out the shape we wanted. We filled in any open space with little balls of clay to make it appear more complete. I did the orange one in class, but wanted to see what an all frog one would look like. I used a color to imitate jade for the frogs. I actually like the orange one better, but the frogs are cool too.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I had a wonderful birthday complete with a trip to a winery and finding a hopping dog birthday party in full swing. To say that I had fun would be such an understatement! I'm sorry this post is so scattered, but that seems to be how life is at the moment. It keeps things new and unexpected and makes for some fun and interesting times. I hope you are all doing well and experiencing lots of joy in your lives.